Ryan Rogoff

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You tell me if this is too far to go for a joke: In 2005, a guy named D.C. Mann (aka Vin Crease, as he's credited here) watches a whole lot of 1970s horror movies so he can meticulously recreate the styles and film look of the era. He then films a movie called Slaughterhouse of the Rising Sun, pretends it is banned or lost or otherwise suppressed, and then, under the guise of a revival, unleashes it upon the present-day world, complete with retrospective interviews and intricate made-up stories about the cast, deaths on the set, and so on. "An unearthed classic!" they'll say -- or they would say, if they didn't know it was all shot earlier this year. Blair Witch, what have you done!?

Slaughterhouse of the Rising Sun is ambitious and fun, and sure enough you'll feel like you're back in the '70s when you watch it. The story draws obvious inspiration from the Manson family, with an innocent blonde girl named Jennifer (Cheryl Dent) having a breakdown in the desert, getting chased by hoodlums, and being saved by a group of characters with funny names and even funnier philosophies. Of course, Jennifer gets sucked into the world of Damon Grey (Crease) and his gang of trippin' hippies... and the body count begins. (It doesn't help that Jennifer's got secrets of her own: She's on the road because she was just released from the looney bin herself.)